Stupid Match Question

Earlier this year I had a RR tournament in which the winner was to play a four game match against the defending champion. The match ended up 4-0, and after the third game, there was no problem with the players playing a fourth, but I was wondering, since this wasn’t a match just for fun, what if they had not wanted to play a fourth game since the match was already decided after three. Is there a rule that a match has to be an even number of games, and should there be?

To take this a step further, if I were to get someone to agree to a handicap match in which I get White all ten games I suppose that would be ratable since there is no color reporting system, but should it be?

Alex Relyea

There are no requirements as to there being an even number of games in the match. If the players opt to stop at 3 instead of playing the fourth game they can do so.

I see no reason why a match where one player plays the same color the entire match shouldn’t be rateable. It’s not a variant on the game. If your opponent was giving piece odds throughout the match then there would be an issue.